Looking at the grave, Adrian felt an odd, hollow feeling. Not for the person who died, but for the people who would grieve over the undeserving man. One person in particular.
Sydney stood there, the sadness on her face making the barely there lines stand out. She wasn't crying.
Adrian was cruelly happy that he hadn't seen her shed a tear over him yet. That man had never known what he had, and now here she was at his grave, mourning over a person she thought she hated once.
Adrian knew better than to tell Sydney what he felt just then. She already knew the majority of his feelings toward the dead man, but if she knew that he was even a little bit happy over his death, she'd be horrified.
Sydney's eyes kept going from left to right, fast, like she was reading the words on the gravestone, and re-reading it, and re-reading it. Her eyebrows were drawn together, concentrating. Adrian read with her.
Here lies Jared Sage
Loving father, devoted worker
Adrian watched Sydney watching the gravestone, like it would suddenly change and she would realize she was at a stranger's grave, that her father was as insistent and harsh as ever - alive.
Sydney closed her eyes briefly then flicked them up to glance at Adrian. She sighed, then leaned heavily against his side. Adrian brought his arm up around her and kissed the top of her head, rubbing warmth into her arm.