Goodbye

38

"Mommy.. Why we go to church?" Christine frowned at her mother. "And why wear color?" She pointed at her dress.

"Because." Pippa sniffed. She was helping her daughter put on her sweater to cover her shoulders. Steve was still putting his suit together slowly, not even registering what was fully going on at this point. Dot was even dressed up for the funeral. Wearing a black dress that Pippa managed to order online. Nowhere sold baby dresses that were for this occasion.

"Why I hafta go?" Christine pouted.

"Because you have to say goodbye to Uncle Lin." Steve muttered while walking by them. Christine furrowed her eyebrows and looked back at her mother.

"He going on trip?" She whispered. Pippa shook her head and gave her daughter a tight hug. "Where He go?" She asked.

"Uncle Lin went... Away sweetie.." Pippa frowned, tears still flowing down her cheeks.

"He's dead Christine." Steve said bluntly. "He's not coming back." Pippa glared at her husband, feeling betrayed. He could've approached the situation much better instead of throwing it at their children. He shrugged his shoulders and walked away from the bedroom, heading down the stairs to the living room.

Christine looked at her mother, still confused at the whole ordeal. Pippa sighed and sat on the floor with her daughter.

"What does that mean?" She frowned.

"Uncle Lin was very sick Tini.." Pippa started. "And the doctors couldn't fix him. Which meant that he couldn't get better. So what happened is that..." Pippa felt a lump in her throat. She felt awful for not taking her kid to church, but neither her or Steve were the big church going people... "He went to heaven." Pippa forced.

"What's that?" She asked.

"It's a place where all the good people go." She sighed. "Can you find your shoes and bring them downstairs for me?" She asked quietly. Christine nodded and got up from the floor. Pippa did the same and walked out to find her husband. She walked down the stairs to the living room and saw him sitting on the couch staring at Dot in her car seat.

"I know what I did. And I'm not apologizing for it." He said without looking up.

"I think we should start going to church.." Pippa suggested. Steve looked up at her, confused to no end. He thought she was going to snap at him for being blunt.

"Church..?" He asked.

"Yes. Christine and Dot need something to be raised with. They can't just go through life not knowing anything... And she wouldn't have so many questions about this if we had gone to church..." She explained to him. Steve nodded, knowing it would be hard trying to raise children without some base religion. Something to believe in.

"We can look into it..." He whispered. Pippa nodded and sat next to him, her arms wrapping tightly around his left arm. She had more tears falling silently. Steve had a few as well.

It wasn't everyday you lost someone so close to you. But then again, you hoped that they would never leave you.

Christine came running down the stairs with her shoes and went straight to her father to help her put them on. While that was going on, Dot decided to sneeze. Pippa jumped at the sound and let out a little laugh.

"Such a big sneeze for you little lady." She said while grabbing a tissue to wipe her nose. As she went to wipe Dottie's nose, she began coughing. Pippa frowned and decided to unbuckle her from her seat. For someone who spent a lot of her life in a hospital, she hadn't gotten sick once... Spit up here and there, but never anything like a little cold.

"Is she okay?" Steve frowned.

"I think so.." Pippa answered him. Pippa threw a blanket over her shoulder and began patting Dot's back, trying to help her.

"Pip... She's not okay. We need to take her to the hospital." Steve said urgently. Pippa frowned and turned her head to see what was on the blanket.

===

Vanessa sat with her boys during the service, her phone vibrated a few times, signaling a text. She frowned and decided not to check it. Probably more condolences being sent her way.  She looked around the room and still hadn't seen signs of Pippa with Steve and their little family.

"Are you okay?" Lin's mother whispered.

"Trying to be." Vanessa whispered back. She pulled out her phone to check the time, and to see if Pippa has texted. It was only three in the afternoon and had a text from Steve.

Steven P: Taking Dot to the emergency room. She was coughing up blood. Not sure why. We won't be able to make it for the funeral. We're so sorry.

Vanessa covered her mouth, in shock really. The day of her husband and their best friend's funeral... And the day their daughter has another medical problem. She wasn't angry with them, it was beyond their control. She just hoped they wouldn't have another reason to grieve...

Vanessa: I hope she'll be okay. My prayers to you guys as well.