THE MORTON QUADRUPLETS

CHAPTER 14 - RACHEL

The service was short. Nobody else came to the funeral. It was just the three of us and Aunt May. I kept looking over at Aunt May. She cannot possibly be more that forty-five years old. She looks like she is over sixty years old.

Ava helps Aunt May out of the pew after the service. Four men from the funeral service come out from behind a closed door and proceed to carry the coffin out of the church. We walk slowly behind them to where they place the coffin in the hearse. The funeral coordinator places the flower arrangement on the coffin and the driver closes the door.

"The graveyard is not far from here" The driver tells us when he is ready to leave. I look at Ava and Aunt May. We will go to the grave yard. Ava will not leave Aunt May to go alone. We walk the long path to the sidewalk. By the time we reach it Bailey has already arranged for a taxi to pick us up.

We are barely there when the taxi arrives. Ava helps Aunt May into the car and we all follow.

The drive to the graveyard is short. We could have walked but I am not sure that Aunt May would have been able to. She was wheezing when we reached the sidewalk from the church.

We get out of the cab and Aunt May hooks her arm into Ava's again. They walk slowly in front of us to the grave site. Bailey and I walk behind them. Aunt May is setting the pace. It is a slow pace.

I am usually a very patient person but today I feel irritable. I have so many questions.

"Did you see the woman at the back of the church?" I ask Bailey in hushed tones as we walk to the grave.

"Yes! I did! Did you see how quickly she disappeared?" Bailey asks also in hushed tones. Her voice a little too high pitched to be calm and collected. Bailey is scared. I look at Bailey. Her eyes are wide. She looks very nervous. Looking over her shoulder every other moment.

"Bailey? Are you scared?" I ask Bailey a litter softer than before.

Bailey suddenly looks like she is about to burst into tears.

"Rachel, I am terrified." Bailey looks at me with big pleading eyes. What does she want me to do?

I take Bailey's hand and hold it tight while we walk to the grave.

The four of us stand in a line next to the deep hole in the ground. Even though the sun is shining and the sky is clear, it still feels like a dark day.

The men from the funeral service carry the coffin over to the grave and put it on the stand they have already set up. The funeral director stand on the other side of the grave. His hands are folded together in front of him. He looks at each of us.

"Would anyone like to say something?" He asks in a flat bored voice.

I frown at him. Are funeral directors not supposed to be compassionate and caring?

Aunt May gives a grunt of disapproval. "This is ridiculous" She turns and starts shuffling back to the cobblestone path. The three of us stare after her. Ava turns to the funeral director and shakes her head quickly. The funeral director makes adjustments to the frame with bands the coffin is resting on and the coffin start to descend into the grave.

When the coffin is settled at the bottom of the grave Ava turns and starts to walk after Aunt May. Bailey follows. I turn to follow them when my eyes catch a man in a suit standing far away under a tree. He is watching us.

"Bailey" I call after Bailey without taking my eyes off the man. Bailey and Ava stop walking to look at me. They follow my gaze and see the man standing under the tree. I walk to stand next to Bailey and Ava. The man turns and gets into the shiny black car close to him as we watch.

"If I am absolutely honest with you guys right now, I have to admit that I am very, very nervous about everything today." Bailey states in a shaky voice.

"Let's get out of here." Ava starts to walk after Aunt May. When we get back to the parking lot where our cab stopped, it is still there. Everyone gets into the cab as quick as possible. When we are all seated, Aunt May gives the address of the house she has been living in for the last three decades.

The cab is silent during the drive there. Every one of us submerged in our own thoughts. As the memories of the last ten years drift through my thoughts, my eyes focus on Bailey. She still looks like she is really biting back on tears. I wonder what happened to her. It was wrong of me to run without talking to them first. I just wanted to get out. I wanted to be free. It was only after I broke all ties and contact with everyone that I started wondering if the other girls were okay.

I always assumed that it was only my life that fell apart. I was absolutely convinced that Bailey married Brandon and that Ava married Adrien. I knew Ellie and Greyson broke up the last day of school but I was really sure they would get back together.

I shift my focus to Ava. She wanted to be the manager of a very prestige museum. In fact, it was already lined up. The manager of the museum was already training her to take over. She would not have been able to manage the museum with even one tattoo. The image of the manager would have been too important to the museum.

I had everything set up to start my own coffee shop. I have studied different courses to have speciality coffees and chocolates in the shop. It would have been any coffee addict and chocoholics dream to come to my shop. Everything just went so incredibly wrong. After the attack I had to flee out of town.

My focus rests on Aunt May last. This woman always looked like a super model. The last time I saw her she was drunk and disorientated. She came onto Ryan and groped him shamelessly. I felt embarrassed for her. I also felt very sorry for Ellie who felt incredibly embarrassed for her aunt's behaviour.

When you look at these three women, it is clear that life was not easy for any one of them.

The cab pulls into the street parking in front of Aunt May's house. She hands the driver a bill and turns to open the door. She turns back to give each of us a demanding look.

"Come!" she says and gets out of the car.

We all shuffle to get out of the car and join Aunt May on the sidewalk. The cab driver pulls away and drives off.

Aunt May turns and starts to shuffle towards her front door. Ava gives me a questioning look and turns to follow Aunt May. Bailey looks worse than she did all morning. It is clear that she is on auto pilot and just doing whatever she is told to do.

The pathway to the front door is not long but Aunt May is very slow. It takes a few minutes to reach the steps leading up to the front door. Ava steps in beside Aunt May to help her ascend the steps. Aunt May looks at Ava and smiles when she takes her arm, accepting the help offered.

The small garden in front of the house looks extremely neglected. The grass is overgrown and the weeds have taken over the flowerbeds. The trees have shed their leaves and have grown new leaves already. The shed leaves still lay in thick blankets under the trees.

It looks sad. I look at the house that also seems to have been neglected through the years. The red painted roof seems faded and the walls show cracks and bare spots where the paint has peeled off.

Aunt May fumbles for a key with her shaky bony fingers. She unlocks the door and opens it wide as she walks into the house. She shuffles further into the house leaving the door open for us to follow.

The house reeks of cigarette smoke. All the curtains are drawn and every opening of the house is shut tight. She takes us to the kitchen. It is the only room in the house with light coming in. Ava reaches to open the windows when Aunt May begins to protest vehemently, but then waves her hand as if she dismissed herself, realising that fresh air is needed for survival.

We all sit around the small table in the middle of the kitchen. Aunt May takes out four small glasses and places them on the table. She walks slowly to the fridge and take out a bottle of orange juice.

She places the orange juice in the middle of the table and moves around to sit in the last empty seat.

She points to the bottle of orange juice and then to Ava.

"Pour"