Bear No Malice | Paul Lahote

Two

The service was beautiful, not a single eye was dry as a prayer was finally said for Harry. I dabbed gently at my eyes and handed a tissue discreetly to Rhett as he let a few tears of his own slide by. It was amazing the kind of family these people had with each other, so tight knit and protective. All of the boys sat close to Sue, almost as though they were her protectors.

"Are you coming to the house after the burial?" Rhett was pulling Sue into yet another tight hug as we headed towards the door when she asked us.

Rhett hesitated for moment, subtly glancing at me. I knew he was asking how I was holding up in such a familiar but strange environment.

"Of course we will," I assured her. "We might stop at our place and change first into something more comfortable."

"That's what everybody does already," she chuckled. "You'll fit in just fine here."

Rhett and I gave one final nod as we walked out to the truck. As the doors shut he grabbed my hand. "You don't have to come to this part if you don't want to."

"I'll be fine. They just lost so much more than me today, I'm not going to make a big deal."

Rhett simply nodded and took my hand in his as we drove in the car procession.

"I love you so much, Emma Mason."

"And I love you, Everett Mason," I smiled.

We stood in the grass surrounding Harry's headstone as he was lowered down, Rhett's arms wrapped tight around me as I stood in front of him, my eyes closed as I fought the sadness clawing at my throat. My heart ached at the loss his family was feeling. I opened my eyes to see Sue standing strong as she placed a kiss on the casket as it finally sank into the Earth. She tossed a handful of soil into the hole before looking up at the sky, mouthing I love you to the grey clouds above.

What if that were me, burying Rhett? Anxiety bubbled and a tear slipped down my face before I quickly swiped at it. I couldn't imagine the pain Sue felt, and selfishly, I never wanted to.

Finally, we were walking in a line back to the cars, Rhett falling slightly behind as he carried a small conversation with Sam. I looked towards the parking lot as a few figures emerged from behind a couple of the cars. I recognized them to be Paul, Jared and Jacob. They stood in a small circle talking heatedly before Jared placed a hand on Paul's shoulder. He pushes it off aggressively before going to shove him. As I watched the situation escalate, their fighting grabbed the attention of Sam. He abruptly ended the conversation with Rhett and quickly jogged over to the three.

"Emotions always run high at funerals, Emma. I'm sure it'll be fine," Rhett assured me. As I laced my fingers through his and gave him a smile, I spared a glance back at the group of boys, one of which was already staring intently at me. I kept Paul's gaze for a moment before he looked away suddenly, seeming much calmer than he had just a few minutes prior. He shook his head at Sam and dismissed his questioning stance.

"Sam must've calmed him down," I observed mostly to myself. "You wanna change before we head to Sue's? I'm assuming you know the way there, right?"

Rhett nodded and we got in the truck. "Yeah, I want out of this damn suit."

"I know how you feel, these heels are killing me." My heels ached at the mention of the death trap shoes I wore. "Plus I need jeans, my legs are cold."

"As long as I'm the one taking that dress off you," Rhett winked at me. I shoved his arm lightly at his dirty words as we turned out of the gravel lot and onto the road.

It took ten minutes to get back to the house, another twenty to find our clothes scattered amongst different totes, then another ten to walk down to Sue's house. It was creeping closer to four in the afternoon but it felt much later with the long day we'd had.