Note to readers: Once again, tissues are definitely a must, so keep that in mind. Also, if you guys will recall, waaaaaaay back in Ch. 8, Support, when Princess Rosie was born, I mentioned that Queen Clarisse had her own special rose which was a shade of mauve, and that Queen Mia had her own rose, which was an off-white color. It might seem like a small, insignificant detail, but it is actually an important detail to keep in mind while reading this chapter. Thank you for the kind reviews and the support. It is always very appreciated. And again, I realize this chapter, like Ch. 20, is really sad. Just please, hang in there with me. After this, we've got one more chapter to go and all this will make more sense once you read the last chapter. Again, thank you, and I hope you enjoy.
Chapter Twenty-One
Clarisse
When Mia rested her little head on my chest at twenty minutes after six that morning, I knew we were getting close. She'd fought so hard, so bravely, this past month, but I knew she simply could not keep holding on much longer. Her poor little body had been through so much these past several years and even though losing my precious little one tore me apart, I couldn't bear to go on watching her fighting for every breath. I knew how badly my sweet little girl needed to stop fighting and rest, and as much as it did hurt, when she finally stopped fighting and let go; when she let out one last breath at twenty-two minutes after six that morning and didn't take another one, for her sake, I was actually relieved. I was happy for her that she finally left her sick, broken little body behind and was now with the good Lord and Philippe and Helen in heaven, where nothing could ever hurt her again.
After we'd gotten her situated in the rocking chair with me in front of her window so she could watch the sunrise that morning, Lionel, Joseph, Lilly, and her husband Kip sat nearby, watching the sunrise with Mia and me. When Mia let out that last breath at 6:22, we all waited anxiously to see if she was going to take another one.
When, after several long moments, she didn't, Lionel said, "Oh, God. I think this is it."
"No," Lilly said, vehemently shaking her head. "No, it can't be. It can't be. Not yet. Come on, Mia. Breathe," she practically barked in Mia's ear. "Take another breath. You can do it. Come on."
"Oh, no," said Kip. "Lilly, I think this really is it."
Joseph quickly got up then and felt for a pulse on Mia's neck. A moment later, he felt for one on her wrist. Then he looked at all of us and shook his head. And when he did that, Lilly just started falling apart.
"No! No! This isn't it! This can't be it! We can't lose her! Not now! We have to do something! We have to get one of the nurses in here to start C.P.R."
"We can't do that, Lilly," Lionel told her, his eyes filled with heartbroken resignation. "Mia and I talked about this several times after we first found out she was dying, and she made it perfectly clear that she did not want any form of life support or resuscitation when she went. She told me that when her time came, she wanted us to let her go. I know you don't want to let her go. Neither do I. But for Mia's sake, we've got to."
"No! No, we have to do something! We have to help her! She needs our help!"
"We are helping her, Lilly," I quietly told her. "We're helping her by letting her rest." After I said that, Lilly broke down into sobs and rushed out of the suite, crying loudly while Kip followed after her.
I said nothing for the next ten minutes or so. I simply continued to rock Mia and hold her close, even though I knew she was gone now. Eventually, I whispered in her ear, "It's alright, little one. It's all over now. All the pain. All the sadness and heartache this world has caused you. All the nightmares. The illness. All those terrible things are behind you now. Nothing, and no one, will ever hurt you again. You just forget all about it, and be happy now. Be at peace. Enjoy yourself up there while you're waiting for us. And don't you ever forget how much I love you."
After a long pause for a few moments, I then asked Lionel, "Lionel, would you like to hold her for a little while?" Lionel nodded, so I got up out of the rocking chair and he took my place and began to hold Mia.
"Clarisse," Joseph whispered after I got up, and then he gave me a long, warm hug.
"Come on, Joseph. I think we should give Lionel some privacy."
"You're right," he agreed, and then he started walking out of Mia's suite.
"Take your time, Lionel," I told him just before I left, and he nodded.
Once I was standing out in the hallway with Joseph, he said to me, "I'll go tell the girls."
I nodded and said, "I think I just need to be on my own for a bit. I'll go take a walk outside."
Joseph nodded, and then he gave me another long hug and a kiss and said, "I love you, Clarisse."
"I love you, too," I said, and then while he went to go get the girls up to talk to them, I headed outside.
When I walked out of the palace, I saw that the sun was still rising, and that the winter sky was still incredibly beautiful. One would think that at a time like that, I would be grief-stricken and sadder than ever, and possibly angry because Mia was gone, but strangely enough, as I looked at that sunrise, I couldn't really feel anything. Perhaps I was so stunned by the fact that it had finally happened after all the struggles with her health through the years that I was actually too numb to feel. All I could think as I stared at the sky that cold morning was, Lord, take care of my baby.
"Clarisse!" I suddenly heard Charlotte's voice call. It had taken her a while, but now, she was finally getting used to calling me by my first name rather than "Your Majesty."
"Mother!" I heard Pierre call.
I turned around then and saw the two of them in their pajamas, robes, and slippers, running up to me. (After bringing the twins home from the hospital, they'd stayed in their own suite with the babies at night and not with the rest of us in Mia's suite.) I held my arms out to both of them, and they gave me the biggest hug.
Pierre kissed the top of my head and said, "Mother, I am so sorry."
"We just heard," said Charlotte a few moments later after the hug ended. "We are so sorry."
"Thank you. Thank you both, but I'm okay. I'll be alright. The most important thing is, Mia's not trapped in that body anymore. She'll never be cold or tired again, and she will never have to fight for another breath. I think knowing that is…what's going to get me through this."
"Yeah," Charlotte said with an understanding nod.
"And speaking of being cold, Mother, let's get you inside before you get too cold. Why don't I make you a nice cup of hot chocolate in the kitchen, huh?"
"Thank you, Pierre," I said as we all started walking back inside, "but I'm not really in the mood to eat or drink anything right now."
"Nobody ever is, but you have to eat and drink in times like these anyway so you don't make yourself sick," he insisted.
"Very well," I sighed, not feeling like trying to argue with him.
When we came into the kitchen, I sat down at the kitchen table with Charlotte while Pierre made some hot chocolate for all of us. Kip came in a couple of minutes later and joined us.
"How's Lilly doing?" I asked him after he sat down at the table.
"Well to be perfectly honest, Your Majesty, she's pretty torn up. I mean, Lilly and Queen Mia weren't just friends or best friends, even. They loved each other like sisters."
"I know they did," I agreed.
"She's pulled herself together, though. She and Lionel are with Joseph now, talking to Princess Claire and Princess Rosie," he said and I nodded.
"I've just finished making some hot chocolate for everybody, Kip. Would you like a cup?"
"Thank you very much, Your Highness, but I'm fine."
"You don't have to be so formal," Pierre told Kip as he brought some hot chocolate over to Charlotte and me. "I'm just 'Pierre' now, not 'Your Highness.'"
"Sorry. It's just habit. I know Lilly was best friends with the Queen and all, and Queen Mia actually told me herself a long time ago to drop the titles and call her by her first name, but it just didn't feel like the right thing to do."
"Yes, even though she was the reigning queen of our country, Mia still preferred to be on a first-name basis with everyone she met. That was her way," I said. "She was amazing."
Charlotte put her hand on top of mine then and said, "And she always will be." When she told me that, I smiled and nodded.
After Pierre brought his own cup of hot chocolate to the table and sat down with us, he asked, "Do you know anything about the kind of funeral arrangements Mia wanted, Mother? I mean, obviously, we have to have a state funeral since she was the Queen, but is there anything specific she wanted?"
"According to Lionel, Mia wrote a letter to the family explaining everything that she wanted to be done. I assume Lionel will read it to us later on today so that we can get started taking care of everything."
"The press will certainly go crazy over it," Charlotte said with obvious annoyance. After all her years with us, she'd come to loathe the media as much as I did.
"Oh, yes," I agreed. "The Genovian press, the American press, the British, the rest of Europe. Every reporter in the world is going to go just as insane over this as they did over the death of Princess Diana. We'll really have to tighten down on security for Lionel, Claire, and Rosie. If we don't keep them protected, the press won't give them a moment's peace."
"The press never gives anybody a moment's peace in our family," Pierre complained.
"True, but it's imperative that we protect Claire and Rosie as much as humanly possible," I said. "And speaking of Claire and Rosie, I'd better go upstairs and spend some time with them. Thanks for the hot chocolate, Pierre."
"You're very welcome, Mother," he said, and then I got up and left to go find Lionel and the girls.
The next several hours I spent with Joseph and Lionel trying to console the girls were, to put it mildly, long and heartbreaking. It was hard for all of us to get them to eat something later on in the day, but we eventually did, and then we got them to lie down and take a nap. Once we got the girls to sleep at about one-thirty that afternoon, we all gathered together in Mia's office so Lionel could read her last letter to us. The letter said:
Dear everyone,
If Lionel is reading this letter to you now, then that means I'm not with you anymore. It also means that my final arrangements need to be taken care of, so I'm going to just come right out and tell you all what I want done and keep it nice, short, and simple. I don't want a funeral or any kind of memorial service. I know that must seem like a very unusual thing for a queen, but just hear me out. Let's just be perfectly honest for a second and admit the truth: funerals are a drag! They're sad, painful, and in my opinion, boring and unnecessary events. And besides, I don't want to be remembered for an hour in some dreary kind of memorial service. I'm greedy. I want more than that. I want to be remembered every single day. If you really want to honor my memory, don't do it for just an hour at a funeral. Honor my memory every day by loving all the people around you. Give a sad person a hug. Listen to someone who has a problem and needs to vent about it. Do something nice and thoughtful for someone else for absolutely no reason at all. That's the way I want you to honor my memory. And please don't let anybody send flowers either. If people want to honor my memory, I don't want their money wasted on flowers. I want that money spent on something a lot more practical, like a donation to the Pyrus Women's Shelter or the local hospital or some other worthy cause. I realize this request is flying in the face of hundreds of years of Genovian royal tradition, but it's what I want.
The same thing goes for my burial. I don't want to be buried with all the other Genovian royals. I want to be buried at sea – either in an environmentally-friendly casket or cremated, your choice – near the Love Shack. I want this because, like with funerals, when people think of going to visit a loved one's grave in a cemetery, it's sad and painful. When you guys visit my grave in the future, I don't want it to be all sad and painful. I want it to be an occasion where you guys go spend a day together at the beach as a family, have fun, and watch the sun setting over the ocean. (I also want to give Grandma and Joe the perfect excuse to visit the Love Shack more often!)
I'm only going to say a couple of quick things before I go. I love you all more than anything, and I don't want you to be sad. (That especially goes for you, Grandma.) I know you're naturally going to feel some sadness and grieve, but please, please, don't grieve too long. Move on with your lives. Love the Lord and each other. Help Lionel take care of my girls. Be happy. And Grandma, please don't wear black. I know you wore black all the time after Grandfather Rupert and Dad died, and the thought of you wearing black because of me really hurts my heart, so please don't.
Until we meet again,
Mia
When Lionel finished reading Mia's letter to us, we all simply remained quiet for several long moments, reflecting on the wisdom of her words. In the end, I really was not at all surprised to hear the things she had to say. It was just like Mia to want to spare us the sadness of a funeral and to inspire us to remember her by spending our lives loving the Lord and each other, as she'd said. It truly was far better for us to let our acts of kindness towards others be our ongoing memorial to her, rather than a depressing funeral service. And again, the thought of going on an outing to the beach, spending the day with Joseph, Lionel, Claire, and Rosie, and ending it by watching the sun setting over the sea, was a far more appealing way of visiting Mia's resting place than going to a cemetery and reading her name inscribed on a cold grave. The more I thought about it, the more deeply I respected my granddaughter for her sweetness, thoughtfulness, and creativity. My Mia really was and always would be one in a billion.
"That's just like Mia," I said quietly after our long silence. "Always trying to make things less painful for all of us."
"Indeed," Joseph whispered.
"Well, if you all will excuse me, I've got some thinking to do; some decisions to make," said Lionel.
"Of course, son," Sebastian said. He and Sheila rushed to the palace as soon as they heard, and they'd been there listening to Mia's letter as well, along with Pierre, Charlotte, Lilly, and Kip.
At about four that afternoon, I met up with Lionel in Mia's office again and we started talking about the arrangements.
"I realize Mia's request flies in the face of hundreds of years of Renaldi tradition, like she said, but I think we have to honor her final wishes," he told me.
"I think you're absolutely right," I agreed. "The rest of the country may not agree, but this is our business, not theirs, even though they seem to think otherwise, especially the press."
"Exactly. I've been looking into it and with Charlotte's help, we found a man who's a pretty hardcore environmentalist who lives in Mertz. He actually makes wicker caskets. If it's alright with you and Joe, I'd really prefer to bury Mia that way rather than have her cremated. I…just can't stand the thought of her body being burned."
"Neither can I. Frankly, I'm relieved you're choosing to go about it this way. I mean, I know Mia's spirit isn't with us anymore and that her body is only an empty shell now, but it still hurts my heart to think of us just burning her body. When it's time for us to lay her to rest, I want it to be something gentler than a cremation, if that makes any sense."
"I know what you mean."
In the next moment, Sebastian came into Mia's office and gave his nephew a hug. Then he asked him, "How you doing, son?"
"I'm hanging in there, Uncle Seb. Besides, I can't fall apart now, right? Not with two little girls to take care of. I have to be strong now, for them and for Mia. It's what she would want."
"I know, and you are being strong now. Very strong. You're doing great. Just remember, Sheila and I are always here for you, alright?"
"I know."
"And Clarisse, you know we're here for you as well," he told me, and I nodded before we hugged.
"Yes, Sebastian, I do know that, and I thank you." After the embrace ended I assured him, "We'll get through this." I didn't really know yet how we all would get through it, of course, but as Mia's grandmother and the former Queen, I knew I had to be strong for everyone now. I couldn't afford to break down in front of anyone else because everybody in the palace was looking to me to be the example. On top of that, as Lionel said, I knew Mia would want me to be strong now, too, and I couldn't let her down.
"I am so very sorry to trouble you both with politics today of all days, but after I announced it to Parliament that you were following the Queen's wishes about not having a funeral, several of the older members started putting up a fuss. I know the palace is going to officially announce the family's plans very soon, and…well…if the people don't support this, how do you want to handle it?"
Lionel shook his head and said, "Regardless of any opposition in Parliament and regardless of the people's opinion, it's like Clarisse said to me a minute ago: this is our business, not theirs. No matter what anybody says, we stick to our guns and we respect Mia's wishes. Mia says no funeral, so no funeral. That's just how it's going to be." Sebastian nodded and gave Lionel a pat on the back after he said that, and then he left.
An hour later, after it was officially announced in the press that there would be no funeral and that Mia wanted donations sent to charities rather than flowers, there was a strong response from the Genovian people. There had already been a strong response from the rest of the world when the news of Mia's death broke. Nicholas announced it to the press at about nine that morning that as King of Genovia, he was officially declaring today to be a national day of mourning in our country and since then, all flags throughout Genovia were lowered to half-staff. America, Great Britain, and many other countries all over the world did the same. People also began driving with their lights on, even though it was daytime, again to show their respect. But when the people of Genovia learned that there would be no funeral, numerous candlelight vigils were planned that night all over the country in schools, parks, churches, and all kinds of other public places because they felt such a strong need to do something to honor the greatest Queen of Genovia in our nation's history. Similar candlelight vigils were also planned in countries all over the world.
"You know, Joseph," I said to him a little while later in our suite, "I understand why Mia said she didn't want a funeral. She's right. Funerals are sad and painful occasions. When Lionel first read her letter to us earlier, I agreed with everything she had to say. But yet, the more I think about these candlelight vigils being held all over Genovia tonight, the more I find myself wanting to go to one so that I can, in some way, pay my respects to Mia and show my love for her. Am I making any sense?"
"Perfect sense, Clarisse. I understand where Mia was coming from, too. Funerals can be very sad and dreary occasions. But yet, as loathsome as they can be, they do serve a purpose. They give the loved ones a chance to say, 'We loved and respected this person and we always will.' They can provide a sense of closure in a way. Now I fully intend to honor Mia's memory exactly the way she wanted us to honor it – through loving the Lord and others every day of our lives, but I can't help but feel that I want to do something more than that right now to show how much she meant to me. Complete strangers are doing special things to honor Mia's memory all over the country, all over the world, tonight. We're her family. Why can't we do the same?"
"Why don't we just go ahead and make the arrangements with the security staff and notify one of the nearby schools or churches that we'll be attending one of those candlelight vigils? As Mia's family, I can't help but feel that it's the least we could do for her."
"I'll speak to Lionel. If he's okay with it, I'll set it up."
"Thank you, darling," I told Joseph, and then he gave me a long hug and kiss, which did help my hurting heart somewhat.
Lionel agreed with Joseph and me, that he too wanted to attend one of the candlelight vigils for Mia, and after the proper arrangements were made, Joseph, Lionel, Claire, Rosie, Pierre, Charlotte, Lilly, Kip and I all went to the candlelight vigil being held at one of the local schools in Pyrus. We got there at about seven that evening, and to say the least, it was extremely moving. The candlelight vigil was being held in the school gym, and there were posters up everywhere that children and teens of all ages had made, saying how much they cared about Mia and that they would always remember her. Her picture was everywhere, and everyone was holding a lit purple candle, which was Mia's favorite color. There was a band there, and hymns were played and sung, as well as songs written by students themselves in memory of Mia. Several students recited very moving poems they'd written, but what touched me most of all was when individual students, kids of all ages, walked up to the podium and spoke about the impact Mia had had on their individual lives. Many of them had been raped or abused themselves, and they spoke about how her example showed them that they too could rise above the hellish things that had happened to them and go on to live fulfilling, meaningful lives for the Lord, for others, and for themselves. Back when I was Queen, I never impacted people's lives like that. As a queen, my granddaughter had indeed surpassed me be far, and as a grandma, realizing that made me so proud. It really made me feel ashamed of myself to think that there had once been a time in our lives when I'd doubted her ability to be a good queen.
Finally, at about eight-thirty, I was asked to walk up to the podium and say something to the people. I wasn't at all in the mood for it, of course, but at the same time, the request hardly caught me by surprise. I'd been pretty sure all along that as Mia's grandmother and the former Queen, it would be expected of me to say something to everyone. As I walked up to that podium that night, I made the decision that for the first time ever in my entire life as a royal, instead of being all polite and diplomatic, I would get up in front of all those kids, teachers, and parents, and just tell the truth. For once in my life, I would say to the Genovian people exactly what was on my mind.
After I was introduced and the applause died down, I spoke into the microphone, "Thank you. Thank you all very much for coming out here tonight and honoring my baby, and thank you for giving my family and me the chance to do the same. To be perfectly honest, words alone are not enough to describe the remarkable impact my granddaughter had, on both the country of Genovia, and on me personally. Usually, it's up to the grandparents to be the teachers, the mentors; to set the good example, but in my relationship with Mia, it was reversed. She was my teacher; my example. In the end, I had far more things to learn from my little girl than she did from me.
"One of the biggest, most important lessons my granddaughter taught me has to do with our faith. As you all know, she was a born-again Christian, as am I, and as a Christian, she forced me to wake up to some horrifying facts about the worldwide Christian church as a whole. For most of my life, I blindly believed that if a person was being abused, he or she could go to their local church for help. For all of my reign as Genovia's ruler, I blindly and stupidly believed that while abuse was tragic, it was not a very big problem for Genovia. After all, this is such a tiny, sweet, God-fearing country, right? How could a network of abusers, using our system of laws to actually enable each other and prevent their victims from leaving and getting help, possibly happen in an innocent country like ours? Had it not been for the powerful strength and courage of my granddaughter, I never would have learned the painful truth about the way abusers in churches throughout Genovia have been crushing their victims for years and using their positions in their churches and in the workplace in order to do so.
"How did they do it? How did they get away with it, undetected, for so many years? The answer is tragic, but simple: they were enabled by Christians. And while many Christians do tend to look on me as a leader, the tragic truth about me is, I am just as guilty of enabling abuse, nationwide abuse, in this country, as a lot of other professing Christians have been. I believed lies about this issue because they were comfortable lies for me to believe – that abuse was just simply not that much of a problem in Genovia. All my life, I was raised to be the perfect lady; to be a good little girl; to always be diplomatic, and no matter what, to never, ever rock the boat or make waves. So that's what I did when I became the sole ruler of Genovia. I avoided controversy at all cost, and I did what my late husband, King Rupert, told me to do: focus more on Genovia's economy than anything else. I never once stopped to think about how abuse victims were really treated in our country, even though I was supposed to be its Queen. I stayed comfortable, just like countless other professing Christians in countless other churches throughout Genovia, and the world. The tragic fact is, for anyone suffering abuse, most churches simply are not reliable places to turn to. For an abused wife, it is far more likely that she's going to get the Ephesians 5 verses and other similar verses about submission shoved down her throat, and for an abused child, it'll be the Fifth Commandment that gets used to shut them up. So many churches and Christians are rife with prejudice against women and children and they're not the least bit aware of it, and it is that ongoing sexism and prejudice against young people that continues to fuel the fires of abuse throughout this world. Thankfully, there are some churches and Christians out there who do get it right when it comes to abuse, but they are still very far and few between, and I know that fact must really make Jesus weep. It certainly makes me weep.
"But Mia did something no other royal in Genovian history has done: she left the palace, and she rolled up her sleeves and got personally involved in the lives of individual Genovians, and that changed everything. Thanks to her example and thanks to the Protection Act she was instrumental in creating and getting passed, abusers lost much of their power in Genovia and they continue to lose their power today. Those first couple of years of Mia's reign that she snuck of the palace to go do volunteer work at the Pyrus Women's Shelter in secret, some might say was nothing but reckless and irresponsible behavior for a royal. I say that it was the most courageous thing any Renaldi has ever done.
"It's painful to admit this now, but the hard truth is, while I always loved my granddaughter, as a royal, I didn't always like her because she was so different from me. She didn't always play by the rules. She had her own way of doing things, and she was never, by any means, what you would expect out of a Renaldi royal. I didn't like that. I didn't like the unexpected. I didn't like someone who was not easy to keep under control. I didn't like it that Mia was precisely the kind of person to rock the boat and make waves and not always be a good little girl who stayed in line. As it turned out, it was those very qualities in her, her independent mind, her knack for always doing the most unexpected things in the most unexpected ways, and the way she always wore her heart on her sleeve, that made her such an outstanding Christian, royal, and human being. I'm just so sorry that it took me as long as it did before I finally began to truly appreciate her.
"And on that note, I say we all should appreciate Mia. We should show our appreciation for her example by following it. If an abused wife comes to you and ask for your help, do not throw Ephesians 5 at her and tell her she's not being submissive enough and respectful enough to her husband. It may be frightening and uncomfortable to put yourself in an abuser's line of fire, but do it anyway because it's the right thing to do. Open your home to her and keep her safe from her abusive husband, no matter what it may cost you. Do not send her on her way just to keep yourself comfortable. If an abused child needs to vent to you about the emotional, verbal, or physical abuse he's suffering from a parent, do not tell him that he's breaking the Fifth Commandment by expressing righteous anger towards that abusive parent. Listen to that child, let him vent, treat him with respect, and do not make excuses for the abusive parent. He may be young, but he deserves honor, respect and consideration every bit as much as any adult or parent does. Mia has left us all a shining example through the way she lived her life, and through her sacrifice. Now it's up to each one of us to decide in our individual lives what we're going to do with it. Thank you."
As I began to step away from the podium, my eardrum nearly burst from all the applause. I was quickly met by the rest of the family on my way back to my seat. Even though we were in public and I never would have been at ease with him doing so in the past, now, Joseph grabbed me and gave me the most passionate kiss, and it really comforted me. After the kiss, I could see it that my speech, which I guess could be thought of as a sort of eulogy for Mia, had actually brought my husband to tears, as well as everybody else.
"Mother, what are you trying to do? Put me out of a job?" Pierre teased, and even though it was a solemn occasion, we all allowed ourselves a quick laugh.
I gave my makeshift eulogy at about eight-thirty, and after that, Claire and Rosie really started getting tired so Lionel took them on home for the night. Joseph and everyone else and I stuck around for several more hours, meeting and talking with people, before we finally called it a day ourselves at around midnight and returned to the palace.
Shortly after I woke up (and was practically forced by my husband to eat breakfast) the next morning, I learned from Sebastian that even though the candlelight vigil at the school had been officially closed to reporters and TV cameras, there had been a couple of journalists there, and they'd written down and published my speech word for word. According to Sebastian, it really did have a major impact on a lot of people.
After Sebastian told Joseph and me at the kitchen table about what people were saying about my spur-of-the-moment eulogy, he then informed us that he and Nicholas were going to recommend to Parliament that Claire and Rosie always maintain their places in the royal line of succession, regardless of whether or not he ever got married again and had children of his own. Should Nicholas ever have his own family one day, he had already made it crystal clear to Sebastian that he would still want Mia's children to be ahead of his own in line for the crown. Sebastian was confident Parliament would agree, and while I'd never been the biggest fan of Nicholas because of all the pain and trouble he'd caused Mia in the past, I was touched and grateful that he was doing that. Although our country would be moving on with Nicholas as its ruler and he would officially be crowned King of Genovia in the following week, I was happy that our Claire would remain the Crown Princess of Genovia, and that Rosie would be just behind her in the royal line of succession.
The next day, the sixteenth of January, our whole family went out on the ocean near the "Love Shack" and Mia was laid to rest at sea, just like she wanted. Since she specifically stated that she didn't want any kind of funeral or ceremony, we simply bowed our heads and said a prayer that her spirit would know nothing but joy and peace with the Father and all our other loved ones in heaven.
Later on that evening, after Lionel took the girls back to the palace and everybody else had left, it was just Joseph and me, alone together watching the winter sun setting over the water. We both were bundled up nicely in our coats, so we weren't too cold. We decided to stay the night at the beach house, or the "Love Shack" as Mia preferred to call it, simply because neither one of us were quite ready to leave her behind yet.
Finally, as I stared into Joseph's loving eyes that evening, I knew I was ready. I knew Mia had said no flowers, but I believed that in this case, she would understand and make an exception. We all had to do different things to say goodbye to Mia in our own way, and my way was this: I'd gotten each of our special roses, my mauve rose and her off-white rose, and I'd tied our two roses together with a purple ribbon. It was a way of reminding myself of the promise from Christ that someday, my little girl and I would be together again.
"I think I'm ready now, Joseph. It's time," I told him, and he nodded and squeezed my hand. Then I left his side, walked up to the water, and took the two roses out of my coat pocket. In that next moment, I set them out on the water and watched the waves carry them out to sea.
"Someday, little one," I whispered. "Someday…"