From afar, Emmett observed what was left of the man who had been missing from his life for the past twenty five years. The years hadn't diminished the onslaught of emotions that assaulted him whenever he entered that place. However, he had become inured to the almost overwhelming urge to flee and deny the reality right before his eyes. As was his habit, he caressed the yellowed letter in his pocket, the one that had informed him of his father's destiny. Forcing his feet to move, he began the slow procession towards his final destination.
Aro, the runaway husband, the absent father … To Emmett's mind, he had been nothing more than a misguided wannabe martyr in a badly written romance novel. Why else would he have preferred to die alone? Just to spare her from the suffering of seeing him die? Because "penniless is better than overload with bills", like Aro had so eloquently put in his final letter to his oldest son? Didn't Jane have the right to say goodbye to her husband?
It had been his father's dearest hope that Jane would deal better with disappointment than with grief. Emmett had always had his doubts, but he was honor bound to keep his father's secret, for that had been Aro's dying wish—the object of the letter Emmett held. Sometimes, Emmett wondered why his father had written to him at all. In his most cynical moments, Emmett believed that the old man had wanted someone to applaud his "selflessness". Most of the time he simply didn't know.
Tears blurred his vision when his feet stopped before his father's resting place. No epithets adorned the tombstone Emmet so reverently caressed.
Such a sad life.
Such a lonely death.
Do I have the time to avoid the same destiny?