The Doctor

34

The funeral was emotion-drenched and long, Stella spoke a little at it, a few tears rolling down her cheek when she read a poem out, but otherwise, she had calmed down from the first week after. Stella was much clearer in her thinking and she had accepted her guilt, making it go quickly. She'd gotten closer with her sisters and their families and they were all proud of her for finding someone like Anna, who they adored. When the funeral was over, they went back to Trish's house for the wake, jamming into the living room and out of the hot wind, laughter and jokes breaking the trend of misery that had hung in the house for a while now. 

Anna poured herself another cup of tea and headed to the stairs where she sat on the third one and watched all the guests talking amongst themselves. Stella was with an old friend on the other side of the room, Trish was making more sandwiches and all of Stella's sister and husbands were scattered around talking to relatives, Anna didn't know anyone else and she didn't feel in the mood to make new friends. She hung her head and now and looked into the tan coloured tea, massaging her head with her fingers and sighing heavily, she was so tired, the remains of jetlag were clinging to her and the past week had been full of effort with the planning, and of helping Stella with how she feels. Anna was proud of herself though, she knew that if this had happened before Christmas or a month after, she'd be having a breakdown right now because of the funeral environment and flashbacks of her brother, but she hadn't and she was coping just fine, feeling sad but otherwise happier then she had in a while. There were footsteps behind her and she looked around, it was Stella's niece. 

"Hey, Molly," Anna said and smiled at the teenager.

She smiled back and sat down next to Anna. She was a lookalike of Stella and personality too, she was moody and mysterious, pretty and slim, but true to being related to Stella, she was also kind and loving. "Hey."

Anna looked across at Hope, Molly's mother, who was giving her a look to say 'get Molly to come and socialise or I'll kick both of your arses'. Anna smiled at her and looked back at Molly who was busy unbuckling her shoes. "Aren't you going to talk to your cousins?"

"No, they're all younger and annoying," Molly sighed and pulled off her shoes. 

Anna nodded, Molly was a lot older than all of her cousins. She was born out of marriage at 16 and her sister was born when Hope was 21 and married. It didn't make a difference to Hope, but a lot of the older parents in the family frowned upon Molly and were oddly stiff. "Well, if your mother tells me off for not getting you to go and talk to someone, stand up for me please."

"Will do." Molly leant back on the stairs and watched Anna closely. "You're really pretty."

"Thanks," Anna said politely and smiled. 

"So's Stella, I wish she was around when I was growing up, I would have shown her off at school all the time."

Anna laughed. "I don't think she'd have the patience to talk to teachers."

"You're not having kids then?"

"We've been together for 10 months or something!" Anna exclaimed.

"I know, but it's just hypothetical." Molly paused and sat back up. "As if you won't get married though! You two are perfect for one another."

Anna blushed. "Um, well, yeah..." she stuttered unsure of what to say.

"I wish I had someone like that," Molly sighed and looked ahead longingly.

"I'm sure there are plently of boys chasing you," Anna said truthfully.

"Aren't you gay? Are you allowed to say that kind of thing? Your gay card should be revoked for saying that, you know."