Wicked Schemes

Chapter 23

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Dancing slowly in an empty room,
Can the lonely take the place of you?
I sing myself a quiet lullaby.
Let you go and let the lonely in
To take my heart again.
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There were a million things that needed to be done. A funeral to plan, lawyers to talk to, plans for what she was going to do with the house, with her mom's car, actually talking to the various people in town who wanted to speak with her now that she was back. Caroline hadn't known where to start with any of it, uncertain the entire flight back to Virginia only to be greeted by old Mr. Carlson from Mystic Falls' funeral parlor. She'd known him all of her life, grew up with his kids who were two years older-one already off in college and the other married and involved in the family business. She'd been to funerals before, her own father's, Jeremy's, Jenna's. Too many to count in recent years, but she'd never had to shoulder the burden of being the one to dictate what would happen.

He'd told her that she needed to pick out something for her mother to be buried in and so that was why after releasing the body to his care-thankful her Coven had done some sort of spell on the body to preserve it-she and Rebekah had traveled the hour or so from the airport to her old house. It was why she was standing in the middle of her mother's closet, breathing in the scent of her and trying to figure out what in the world she'd have wanted to be buried in.

Part of Caroline wondered if she should pick the uniform her mother was so routinely seen wearing, but she didn't want that to be the last image everyone saw of the woman. Yes, she'd been the town Sheriff and that was important, but she was her mother and that was also a huge part of who Liz Forbes had been. That was the reason Liz Forbes had died and Caroline meant to honor that part of the woman as well.

She hadn't had time to really grieve-too many other things happening that had to be dealt with-but standing in the middle of her mother's closet, all Caroline could do was see how much she had lost when Marcel had torn that heart from her chest. The tears fell freely as she pushed aside outfit after outfit, blurrily trying to make her way through the wardrobe for something that would jump out at her as the one to pick. Memories of her mother wearing them also hit her, making her cry harder.

"You don't have to do this right now," Rebekah's told her, no snarkiness to her voice and Caroline shook her head.

"If I don't do it now I don't think I'll ever get it done," Caroline whispered, brushing at her tears to try and clear her vision. "I don't think she'd like a dress. She was never a big fan of wearing them. Or skirts. Definitely a jeans person, my mom." She sobbed at the last words and was startled for a moment when Rebekah touched her shoulder.

"Then you find a shirt that complimented her complexion and I'll find a nice pairs of jeans," Rebekah replied, and even offered a sympathetic smile. It may have been ages ago, but she remembered what it was like to lose her mother the first time. She may have grown to despise Esther once she returned and tried to kill them all, but when she had first died, Rebekah had been just as Caroline was, a girl without a mother, and Rebekah knew how hard a blow that was to deal with let alone being the one in charge of all the new requirements that seemed to go along with someone dying these days.

"Thanks," Caroline murmured, briefly returning the smile before setting out to do that. She settled on a peach button up that her mother had always looked nice in, one that Caroline had even complimented her on once or twice before turning her attention to the shoes. Her mother had never owned that many pairs and so that was an easier task to complete.