“Does this happen often?” she asked, wondering how they handledthe attention, both bad and good.
“You get used to it,” Kelley said as he playfully waved at theyoung girls in the car ahead. She could swear, she could hear thegiddy squeal the girls let out.
“Do you really?” she said, suddenly feeling the urge to stickher tongue at the precocious young flirts.
At herquestion, Kell simply smiled and turned up the music. Thankfully,the road opened up and they were on their way once again.
Hours later,tired and road weary, they finally spotted the impressive cityskyline of Toronto. The sight never ceased to impress Becky, yet onthis day, apprehension overshadowed the beauty of it.
“Right then, what’s the plan, Becky?” Kelley asked, realizingthat in their haste, they hadn’t discussed where they were stayingfor the night.
“Plan?” she asked, coming out of her unpleasant musings. Allshe could think about was getting to Granny’s side before it wastoo late.
Kelley took adeep calming breath. “Did you happen to book a hotel?” he asked ashe turned onto Lakeshore Blvd.
“No…” she said with a frown. Actually, she hadn’t even thoughtof that. Of course, they would need a place to stay overnight. “Isuppose I should have.”
“Yeah… that would’ve been handy,” Kell said with another heavysigh. She really was impetuous in a lot of ways, he thought with afrown. What would she have done if she’d come out here on her own?Lugged that suitcase around the entire city? Where would she spendthe night? On the couch in the lobby of the retirement home? He wassuddenly very glad that he’d insisted on coming with her. The girlobviously had no survival skills whatsoever.
“No worries, mates,” Dorian said, popping his head in betweenthem. “Just let us out down here by the market. Crispin and I willfind a place. It shouldn’t be a problem. We’ll give you a call withthe details later.”
“You sure?” Becky said, looking at him with a mixture ofconcern and gratitude. She didn’t like the idea of leaving them ontheir own. As irrational as the thought was, she didn’t like theidea of abandoning them.
“Of course, that’s a fine idea,” Crispin agreed, restless toget out and wander the city streets.
“Thanks, that’ll be great. I’ll let you off right over here,”Kell said, pulling up by the sidewalk near the St. LawrenceMarket.
“Perfect,” Dorian said, following Crispin out of thecar.
“Careful,” Becky called after them. Whether they heard her ornot, she couldn’t tell. They were quickly swallowed up in thecrowds of people.
Kell smiled tohimself at her misplaced concern for the two streetwise Goths.Those two were more at home in this city than anywhere else in theworld. Of course, looking the way they did, no one would give themany trouble. Except perhaps for the clerks at the hotels, hethought with a wry smile.
“Right then, where to, love?”
***
By the timethey arrived at the retirement home in the city’s west end, it wasalready too late. In fact, had they gotten there hours earlier, itstill would have been too late.
Kell shouldhave guessed it by the way they were greeted at the front desk.When Becky had introduced herself, the receptionist’s expressioncouldn’t have been any graver.
Unsure of hisrole in this situation, Kell hesitated in the lobby when Becky wasasked to sit and wait for the person in charge. All he could do wasstand beside her. When a man with a name tag, wearing a tweedjacket came along and introduced himself to Becky as Dr. Smith,Director of Operations at the home, Kell just about lost it. Hesimply couldn’t go through this again. Seeing the loss come overBecky’s face upon hearing the news that her beloved granny hadpassed away sometime during the night, brought back flashes of hisown experience when he had discovered his entire family hadperished.
His firstinstinct was to bolt for the sliding doors. To run as far away fromthis situation as possible. There was no way he could do this. Itwas too much. In fact, he’d started to take a step towards freedom,when he suddenly paused and made the mistake of glancing at Becky’sface.
She was sittingthere, holding an already drenched tissue in her fisted up littlehand, her shoulders were trembling. She wasn’t sobbing, just simplycrying quietly with huge droplets of tears streaming down her face.The man was still talking to her, but it was obvious Becky wasn’table to process what he was actually saying.
In that moment,Kell forced his selfish fears aside and came forward. Taking a seatbeside Becky, he introduced himself to the older man. After theinitial look of scepticism that he was used to getting from thegeneral public passed, Dr. Smith explained all the necessaryinformation to him.
Although, shecouldn’t bring herself to speak at first, Becky listened intentlyto everything that was said. Granny’s body had been taken to thefuneral home located next door. As per her will, Granny had made itvery clear that she wanted to be cremated as soon as possible, andher remains to be placed in the niche in the cemetery that she hadrecently purchased.
The wholeaffair would take place the very next day as per Granny’s wishesfor a neat and speedy service. She clearly did not want a fuss.With most of her friends living at the retirement home, no extrainvites would have to be made. When Dr. Smith asked her what shewould like to do with Granny’s personal items, Becky suggested theybe donated to the other residents in the home. Next, Dr. Smithasked Becky if she would like to see Granny’s remains before thecremation. At this, she hesitated.
When Kelleytook her hand, she was reminded of his presence. He’d been therewith her the whole time and she was very glad of it. He’d been likea rock for her to hold onto even though she’d been in a state ofsemi-awareness.
“It’s up to you, love, but it’s probably best you do this foryourself. Otherwise, you might never have closure.”
He was right,of course. Even though she dreaded the idea of actually seeingGranny’s dead body, she had to remind herself that it was the leastshe could do. “Yes,” she finally said.
“Now then,
