CEO Of My Heart 242 242

She hung her head with disappointment.  "The father isn't here today. He's going to miss his evening sermon, but that's alright as he has a young man who will lead today.  We can stay if your feeling religious?"

Henry shrugged.  "Not really. It's a beautiful church. But I have many things that I know a sermon will not fix. I'm happy to enjoy the quiet of this church and head back. That's more than enough holy for me."

The most holy thing in the building was definitely the metal carving which showed the arrival of a saint. The metal was etched with many details that took Henry's breath away. He wished he knew more about religion to be able to tell who it was but it was still amazing all the same. 

Ellie followed Henry's gaze to the metal etching behind the alter. She explained, "My mother explained to me that it's figures who are rising after Christ has come back.  There are angels too who are watching above at the resurrection of the Lord. It's been here longer than anyone can remember. My mother was one of the people who would make sure it got cleaned and restored every year so my father made a little fund in her name.  He wanted her to be remembered after she pa.s.sed on."

"What a kind gesture of him.  He must have really loved her." Henry remarked quietly. His eyes narrowed as he tried to see the small details that she had pointed out to him.  In Wong Manor, when his father was still alive, he hadn't even mentioned Henry's mother. After she died, Conrad Wong had just erased all traced of her and moved on as if she had never existed.  Even the staff from his father's time had learned it was better to not mention her.

He felt himself grow hot so he turned on his heel and walked out of the church.  Ellie joined him a couple of minutes later, she looked concerned, but thankfully did not ask him what was on his mind.  He gestured at the small brick fenced yard next to the church. "Is that the graveyard? If that is where your parents are buried do you want some time alone?"

"Alone?  Maybe, I'm not sure how I'm going to react.  Since my father had two wives, my sisters were p.r.o.ne to favor their mother over mine.  I'm afraid my mother's remains are still probably in an urn in Nolan's apartment. I didn't think to bring them as it would have been complicated.  She did initially want to be next to her husband when she pa.s.sed on, but we knew if we came here then it would draw up a fuss." Ellie eyes held a far away pain.  "It's no problem now, but at the time it was painful that the two of them felt nothing for a woman who practically raised them as their mother taught them nothing useful.  Any skill they had, came from my mom. It's a shame."

"Everyone needs to feel pride in their parents, even if they weren't good people.  Maybe in their hearts they had some inner demons we didn't know about. But the important thing is maybe their bodies couldn't have been buried together, when they pa.s.sed on they are surely together in whatever comes after this life.  Look at the way your father still takes care of your mother, I'm sure he'll do everything to find her in heaven." Henry felt a pang as he thought of the clean plaque, there wasn't a speck of dust on it. "I do know that they will have found peace together."

Ellie's eyes grew moist.  "It is my hopes that happened.  I'd like to think they've gone to a nicer place and the not nice people have gone to the opposite place."

As they walked into the graveyard, Henry saw that there was a marble column with the engraved family name Braye which was shrouded in the shadow of the church.  Henry pointed his head in the direction while Ellie nodded. She moved first, holding his hand tightly. As they neared the site, she stopped in her tracks causing Henry to b.u.mp into her.  He put his arms around her reflexively as he looked over her head to see the freshly dug graves beside the main monument. Without knowing he knew whose graves they were--the two previous Baroness Brayes.  Even though one of their bodies had yet to be recovered, someone had already put in the headstones.

As Ellie turned to hide her face in his chest, her arms around him tightened as he felt his s.h.i.+rt begin to grow wet.  He didn't speak, but rubbed circles into her back. Henry was here and he hoped that was enough. His mind turned to the headstones that had been set up, he felt that it was probably the work of the family of the first wife of the former baron.  Once when they had been younger, that family had seen the two young girls as women who would help the community and achieve something great. Maybe it was an aunt on the other side who had been their pillar after their mother pa.s.sed away. He wondered if that love would have been reciprocated.  Maybe not, he finally realized, as the sisters had rejected their own family countless times. Often resulting to cruelty to keep their control. Maybe it was undiagnosed or diagnosed and hidden away to avoid the shame.