The three sisters were at the head of the reception line for their grandmother's wake. Their Grandmother's journey was finally over. She was a 'tough old bird' as she used to say. It has been 2 years since Abby bombed the bitch, their egg donor...their waste of a birth mother. When anyone else was around, she was always referred to as Colleen. That was the best way to keep their fathers happy. It had been 11 years since she abandoned them. It's gotten easier over the years, but the hurt and the pain still remained for all three of them.
It was 8 PM and the funeral home was going to be open for viewing for another 15 minutes and then the parish priest was going to lead in prayers. Tomorrow, there was going to be a funeral mass at the church. There would be a procession to the cemetery then lunch at a restaurant.
Almost 200 people had walked through the reception line since 2 PM. Greeting that many people was starting to take its toll on the young women. They did take breaks and had quick bites of dinner. Dad 1 or Dad 2 or both were always with them the entire time. They both helped explain what the connection was with most of the people expressing their condolences.
What can you say about a woman who lost the memory of her family over 4 years ago? Her dementia was severe, but her final years were relatively happy, even though she was alone as her husband passed years ago. He was her caretaker until he was taken quickly. Alone, she was placed in a Memory Unit. There were no other options. It was lucky that while she didn't remember people, she was not an agitated patient. There were plenty of those at the facility.
Even though she was happy, it was still rough on the three sisters seeing their grandmother forget them. How can you see someone you love disappear before your eyes? All they were able to see was a hollow shell that only looked like their grandmother. It took time until they finally understood in their core that it had to be enough that grandma was at least happy most of the time. This woman had always been there for them, before and after their mother left them.
"Abigail, Amber, Amelia?", the funeral director quietly spoke to them. "We'd like to get started in a few minutes. The priest just arrived. Would any of you want to say a few words?" Abby answered for them all, "We're the only remaining blood relatives that grandma had. We'll leave that for our Dads in the eulogies tomorrow."
Greg was named secondary Power of Attorney and the second Executor for the family Trust by his ex-father-in-law. It happened in the year after Colleen left. Two years later he was named the secondary Medical Power of Attorney for both of them too. It made sense as he was trusted. Greg made sure that his children and his step-daughter were part of their grandparent's lives. He was also still living near them and was closer to his ex-in-laws than their missing daughter.
Father Carlos, a Mexican-American priest from west Texas was their pastor. It didn't matter that grandma was Baptist. All her grandchildren were raised as Catholic. Growing up, the granddaughters ended going to both kinds of churches. It took a bit, but Grandma somehow gave up her in-bred hatred of Catholics over the years. That started with the marriage of her daughter with Greg. It came front and center when she saw the support she saw flowing to both fathers of her granddaughters. That support also flowed to her too. The two different religious groups supported the entire broken extended family. Something good happened out of something bad.
It also helped that nobody talked about religion, converting, the one-true-church or any other of that other 'angels on the head of a pin' bullshit. Grandpa didn't 'give a rat's ass' about organized religion, but he never talked it down. He didn't care as long as nobody was abusing anyone else. If he felt somebody was 'pulling a fast one', as he put it, then the gloves came off and he was vocal as hell about the wrongs. It helped that he liked the Baptist Minister and Fr. Carlos too. That was not bad for a non-church going man.
Standing at the front of the room, Fr. Carlos called for a moment of silent prayer. Then he began with the sign of the cross. All the following prayers were lost on the three sisters. They each zoned out in their grief. Grief of losing their Grandmother now and their mother then. In times like this, everything bad thing was brought together. In times of emotional pain, their being abandoned always felt worse. Abby said that it was being hit with a switch or a light whip. It stung like hell but didn't kill you.
