Subj: Where Are the Angels? Chapter 22
Date: 10/18/00 10:08:41 PM Central Daylight Time
From: Melissa
The funeral for Barnabas Collins was going to be a small affair. The family felt that there had been too much media attention on the family lately. So many tragedies had been shared with everyone.
"Naomi," Joshua said from the doorway of their bedroom, she didn't move from her sear at the mirror. "Are you all right?" he asked.
"No Joshua, I'm not. We're burying our son today. I don't know if I can go on," she said picking up her wineglass.
"How much have you drank this morning?"
"I don't remember, not enough to make this pain go away," she said after she emptied the glass and set it back down.
Joshua was so worried about her. She had begun to drink heavily since Barnabas' death, before she hardly touched alcohol. "I'm worried about you," Joshua said, kneeling down before her, taking her hand and looked up at her. "We lost our son, and nothing could be worse, but we have to think about Sarah. She needs us both to depend on, she lost someone she loved very much, and no one can replace him. I need you to be strong, and be there for her."
Naomi knew he was right, but she couldn't help but want to get rid of this awful pain she felt.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Josette looked at herself in the mirror, she didn't think she would be wearing this so soon.
There was a knock on the door, "Yes?"
The door opened slowly and Peter looked in. "Hi, are you ready?" he asked.
"Yes," she said picking up her purse. "Thank you for taking me to the funeral. I don't think I could have managed by myself."
"I'll always be here for you," Peter said. "Barnabas told me that I should always look after you when he couldn't," he said opening the car door.
"Did the police bring you his car?"
"Yes, they said they got all the evidence that they could out of it. They don't know what was wrong with the car, there seemed to be nothing wrong with it," she said.
"That's strange," Peter said, he looked over at Josette, "How are you doing?" he asked.
"It's hard, I miss him so much," she said.
"So do I," said Peter squeezing her hand comfortingly.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The wake was held at Valrosa, the family thought it was fitting since that was the place he built.
Angèlique had been taken out of the hospital, she was really no better. The new of Barnabas' death had hit her very hard. She knew it was her fault, if only she could have waited a little longer. She felt an emptiness that she couldn't explain.
Seeing Josette get all the attention was no help, she tried not to be jealous, part of her wanted to forget all of what happened, she sometimes wished that her mother never told her about her gift.
Josette wasn't sure she could make it through anymore comforting words.
"Josette," Peyton said, coming over and giving her a big hug. "How are you doing?" she whispered.
"I don't know, I'm still in shock."
"I want you to know that I'm here for anything that you need," Peyton said.
"I know, where's Sebastian?"
"We're not together anymore," Peyton said. "Guess whose here?"
"I don't know who?"
"Andrew, he's ready for a real relationship with me now."
"Well that's great, I hope everything turns out the way you want it," Josette said.
As some of the guests began to leave Eliza came over to Josette with a package.
"Yes, Eliza," Josette asked the housekeeper.
"This came just arrived for you Ma'am."
"Thank you, would you put it in the sitting room," Josette said.
It was almost midnight when the Collins left Valrosa.
"Josette, do you think that maybe I could come over here sometimes?" Sarah asked.
"Of course, I'll always be here for you, when ever you need me," Josette said to the little girl, and hugged her tightly.
When the family had left Josette stood in the empty room, she walked slowly into the sitting room, she sat down on the sofa and looked at the table, and saw the package, she had forgotten about it. She picked it up and opened it carefully. Inside she found a videocassette and a card. She opened up the card and read.
Dear Mrs. Collins,
I wanted to get this out to you sooner, but I've been away on business for sometime.
I hope that everything is well and that your marriage will be a happy one, and
that you'll look back at this with found memories.
Sincerely,
Russell Bening
Manager of The Blue Whale
It was the party, she thought, before all the awful things happened. She got up slowly and went into the lounge.
She put the tape into the VCR, and sat down to watch. She found herself laughing, and remembering the great time they had that night. They had been so happy that night, why did everything had to change.
When Angèlique got up Josette saw then what she had missed all along. Angèlique had been in love with Barnabas for a long time. Why hadn't she seen that, she wondered.
What made her marry Jeremiah, she could really remember anymore. All she knew was that she felt an urge to go to him.
Suddenly a pounding brought her out of her thoughts. She hurried to the door, she looked out the window before opening the door, it was Ben Stokes. He had the strangest look on his face.
"Ben what is it?" she asked when she opened the door.
Ben pushed his way in, "I got to tell you something very important," he said.
To be continued. . .