The mood was solemn as Leora's funeral continued as planned. David's face was grief stricken. He didn't even notice as the funeral parlor emptied. He rose from his seat, approaching the tiny coffin. Standing over it, his head fell and he rested his hand on the top of it, shutting his eyes and taking a deep breath, attempting to hold back his tears.
Anna rose and stood beside David in a awkward silence. "Are you going to say anything?" Anna asked. David remained silent, staring off blankly. "David please. Say something. Please."
David shook his head. "Say what?" he asked softly, with a slight crack in his voice.
"Anything," Anna said. "Say anything. If you want to scream, David, scream. Cry... anything. Don't keep this bottled up. Everything you're feeling, everything you're thinking... David."
"You want to know what I'm thinking?" David choked. "I'm thinking about how Tad Martin has a hell of a nerve to show up here. I'm thinking how lucky he was that Brooke was here to convince him to leave. He's lucky I didn't get to him first." He paused. "It's because of him that our daughter is dead."
"Stop it, David." Anna said. "That is not true and you know it."
"Don't defend him, Anna! Don't you dare defend Tad. He's responsible for this. He and Joe are responsible for Leora's death and I'm not going to rest until they pay for what they did." David paused, his eyes moist, before turning and leaving the parlor.
"David!" Anna called after him. She brought her hand up to her forehead. "David!"
All he needed was to be alone, so there it was, at Memorial Park where David Hayward sat, perched on a bench. his mind was racing, filling with thoughts and memories of the past few months. He was furious, gazing off into nothingness. Even if a fighter jet had come roaring overhead, David wouldn't have noticed.
He had been reduced to nothing by his grief, by the trauma that Joe and Tad Martin had caused him. He could have saved Leora. He could have saved his daughter's life. If only he had been given the opportunity... but he hadn't been given that chance. they had kept him away.
David stood from his seat, walking forward slightly, running his hand over his face. The pain he was feeling was intense, far greater than the basic human emotions.
Taking a deep breath, David returned to his seat, watching life pass in front of him. Other families. Other parents with their children. He could have seen himself in their position. He could envision the warm spring days when he would have played with his daughter in the park... when he would have spent every minute of every day with her. He imagined how he would have met Leora at the front door everyday after school and how he would have helped her with her homework at night.
David ran the back of his hand under his eyes, wiping away the tears. He would never get to experience these things. He would never have the chance to watch his daughter grow up.
Revenge hardly seemed enough. It hardly seemed like justice for what Tad and Joe Martin had done to him. For what they had done to his daughter.
"I'm going to make them pay for what they did to you, baby," David said softly. "I promise you that I'm going to make them see what they've done. I'll make them pay, baby. I promise you I'll make them pay."